Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, 19 June 1913, Page 39

Irish News

GENERAL. , Mr. John Muldoon, M.P., has just been called to the Inner Bar by the . Lord Chancellor of Ireland as a King’s Counsel. ~ Mr. W. B. Yeats is mentioned as a probable successor to the late Professor Dowden as Professor of English Literature in Trinity College, Dublin. It is stated that Sir Arthur Vicars, formerly Ulster King-at-Arms in Dublin, has taken action against a London weekly for libel in connection with the Dublin Crown jewels. Dr. Douglas Hyde has received from Judge Martin J. Keogh, of the Supreme Court of New York State, a cheque for £IOOO for the Gaelic League of Ireland. The death is announced of Mr. Nicholas Murphy, who was elected M.P. for South Kilkenny in 1907, and who retired from Parliament' in 1909. The late Mr, E. Sweetman, D.L., of Langtown, S allins, by his will bequeathed,£loo each to the parish priest of St. Nicholas’, Dublin, for the poor; the parish priest of Clare, for charities; the Magdalen Asylum, Donnybrook; St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin; St. Mary’s Industrial Training School, Stanhope street ; the Blind Asylum, Merrion; Jervis street Hospital, and the Hospice for the Dying, Harold’s Cross. Most Rev. _ Dr. Foley, presiding at a meeting of the County Carlow Technical Committee, said that under future legislation they would probably have boys and girls after leaving primary schools made to undergo a course of instruction to fit them for a future career, and not allow them as at present to go into blind-alley occupations. What they wanted in Irish towns was preparatory trade schools on similar lines to the technical schools in big English towns. Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., writing in Reynolds’ Newspaper on the possibility of compromise with regard to Home Rule, says that the framework of the Bill must stand as it is. But it is likely that Unionists, especially in the South of Ireland, will make some effort after the Bill passes the House of Commons a second time to break down the irreconcilable attitude of the North Orangemen. There is a great movement among Southern Unionists in favor of throwing in their lot with their fellow-countrymen under an Irish Legislature. ' Mr. D. C. Lathbury a former Conservative publicist, in an article in the May number of the Nineteenth Century, discusses the failure of the Unionist Opposition in the House of Commons, His chief complaint is that the Unionist Party has no fixed policy, that even on the leading points, such as Tariff Reform, Conscription, Land Legislation, and the House of Lords, they are divided amongst themselves. Mr. Lathbury also makes the significant admission that opposition to Home Rule on the part of the British public is rapidly passing away. He says there is no evidence whatever that the British electorate is at all excited by the possibility of Home Rule becoming law.

THE ORANGE TYPE OF CONSERVATIVE. Sir Henry Bellingham, the father-in-law of the Marquis of Bute, who is an Irish Catholic and in politics a Conservative Home Ruler, writes to the London Tablet supporting the statement of Mr. Britten that the Unionist Party is to be held responsible tor complicity in the Ulster Orange attack on the Catholic Church. Describing the Orange type of Protestantism in Ulster, Sir Henry-Bellingham writes: It is people of this type who called the late King Edward- ‘Papist Ned,” whose popular songs are ribald and disgusting attacks on the Blessed Sacrament and whose bigotry last Autumn drove large numbers ot Catholics from their employment in Belfast. And yet > English Unionists (even when Catholic) extend their sympathy to such a class, who profess to fear persecution at the hands of their Catholic fellowcountrymen.’

■ ' _ • ■■ * • : TWO RECORDS. * • The April number of the Parliamentary Gazette publishes a numoer of interesting particulars regarding the recent session. The Irish Party put up two records. They voted oftener than any other party in the House and they spoke less. Out of a, total of 605 divisions taken, the Irish Party’s average was . 471 ; the Labor Party’s 396, and the Liberals 370. Of the Irish Party, Alderman Joyce and Pat O’Brien tie for first, place’ with 577 divisions to their credit. Mr. Crumley comes next with 576, and Mr. Duffy with 571. Next in order of number came Messrs. Nolan, Hackett, Abraham, Flavin, Lundon, Doris, Sheehy, Ffrench, Brady, Lynch, Reddy, Augustine Roche, Keating, Dr. O’Neill, Hayden, Meagher, T. E. Meehan, and Phillipps, who had 531 votes to his credit. LADY ABERDEEN’S GOOD WORK. At Peamount Sanatorium, County Dublin, on Sunday, April 26, St. Finian’s Chapel, which has been erected for the inmates of that excellent . institution, was dedicated. The sermon was preached by Rev, Robert Kane, S.J., who paid a warm tribute to the good work of Lady Aberdeen, of Irish doctors, Catholic and Protestant, of the many highly-educated ladies who are devoting themselves to the nursing of the sick poor. Father Kane said the people owed that sanatorium to Lord and Lady Aberdeen, as they also owed the chapel, and it was a most delicate thought for which they ought to be grateful, that 'the idea of dedicating the chapel to St. Finian, the patron saint of the locality, was due to her Excellency. A FRIEND OF IRELAND. Mr. Martin Kennedy, one of the most prominent Irish Nationalists in New Zealand, is at present on a visit to Ireland, accompanied by his daughter, and is staying at the Shelbourne Hotel (says, the Weekly Freeman of May 3). Few Irish exiles have had a more remarkable or successful career than Mr. Kennedy, and the story of his life, as related to a representative of the Weekly Freeman, reveals in a very striking manner an outstanding personality whose patriotism, capacity, and enterprise have left their mark on the entire life of. far-off New Zealand. A native of County Tipperary, he left Ireland in 1859, arriving in Melbourne the following year. In 186tehe went to New Zealand and settled on the West Coast, known as the ‘ Gold Region.’ His remarkable business acumen at once asserted itself. He engaged in commercial pursuits, and in a short while by his indomitable enterprise and industry built up an extensive and flourishing business, which ranked amongst the foremost in the country. For many years past he has occupied a unique position in commercial and business life. It is interesting to mention that in the midst of his multifarious business callings Mr. Kennedy has been able to devote a good deal of time to the cause of the motherland. The Nationalist envoys on their mission to New Zealand have always found in him a staunch and energetic He has ever'been a fearless champion of Irish freedom. He was among the first to welcome Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P., and Mr. Donovan on their historic mission in 1906, when New Zealand subscribed £SOOO to the National war chest. To Mr. Kennedy’s self-sacrifice and energy is due in a large measure the unparalleled success of the mission undertaken in 1911 by Messrs. R. Hazleton, M.P., W. A. Redmond, M.P., and J. T. Donovan. The sum of £II,OOO was then subscribed for the Home Rule Fund— an achievement which constitutes a most remarkable tribute to the fidelity and generosity of the Irish exiles. Mr. Kennedy himself and other members of his family, it is needless to say, contributed generously to the fund. Interviewed by a representative of the Freeman’s Journal, Mr. Kennedy, who was in company with Mr. J. T. Donovan, said that the National spirit in New Zealand was never more ardent than at the present time. The people are full of hope for the realisation of Irish aspirations, and, as far as he could see, there was nothing to prevent the passage of the Home Rule

Bill. He assured our representative that every appeal made ,by the Irish Party would find a ready and generous response in New Zealand. Speaking of the St. Patrick’s Day banquet in London, at which . Mr. Kennedy was the guest of Mr. Redmond and the other Irish leaders, he said it was a magnificent function. The speeches of Mr. Redmond and Mr. Devlin were of such a character that the most enthusiastic and ardent Imperialist could not take exception to. ‘And in this connection, what surprised me very much,’ said Mr. Kennedy, was the little space, if any at all, given to these proceedings by the ~ Conservative press. I cannot understand the action of these papers, but I am quite satisfied notwithstanding that the Irish cause is bound to triumph'. Mr. Kennedy also spoke of his visit to the House of Commons, where he was the guest of Mr. Devlin and other Irish members. THEN AND NOW. [Towards the end of December, 1792 (says the Irish Weekly), delegates from the Cathobc Association of Dublin were proceeding to London to lay a petition in favor of Catholic Emancipation before the King. These delegates were Sir Thomas French, Messrs. John Keogh, Byrne, Bellew, and Devereaux. They chose to travel to England via Belfast; and when they reached the Donegal Arms Hotel on Sunday morning, they were waited upon by some of the principal citizens of all denominations, A little later on, when they were leaving, the people of Belfast— Protestant in a greater proportion than at presentassembled, took the horses from the carriages in which the Catholic delegates were seated, and drew them through the town amidst the liveliest shouts of joy and wishes for their success. Commenting on this extraordinary demonstration, which, unfortunately, has never since been imitated, Wolfe Tone, then secretary of the Catholic organisation, wrote: Let our delegates, if they are refused, return by the same route. ... To those who look beyond the surface it was an interesting spectacle, and pregnant with material consequences, to see the Dissenter of the North drawing with his own hands the Catholic of the South in triumph through what may be cfenominated the capital of Presbyterianism.’ This remarkable, and significant incident was one of the most notable of many notable incidents of the period which proved that tolerance and genuine Irish patiotism were the characteristics of the people of the town while Grattan’s Irish Parliament existed. The Catholics repaid this measure of sympathy by striking the chains of Ascendency from the limbs of the Presbyterians of Ulster, Many of the latter, we are glad to know, have never been ungrateful.